Since its founding in 1994, Corsair has made its bones by manufacturing speciality components for servers and high-performance workstations that are bigger, faster and better-performing than those previously available. The company submitted a number of great components to the Test Center for consideration, and we selected its Dominator-GT 2,000-MHz DDR3 memory and H50 liquid processor cooling system for use in the Ultimate PC.
Like most geeks, we love computer components that look like other things. So we couldn't help but adore Corsair's H50 CPU Cooler, which looks just like a miniature car radiator. Of course, the two share the same operational principle.
Sitting atop the processor is a pump, which is powered by the CPU fan circuit. The pump continuously circulates liquid through the radiator, which is kept cool by a dedicated fan. Not a new concept, certainly, but a really cool-looking device and well-thought-out and documented implementation. Adapters and mounting brackets are included for various Intel motherboards and processors; those for AMD parts are available upon request.
A megahertz is a terrible thing to waste. And we geeks hate to waste performance. Unfortunately, Intel took away that choice because Corsair's Dominator-GT 2,000-MHz memory was faster than the 1,600 MHz supported by the DX58SO motherboard. Still, you won't find a cooler-looking DIMM nor a cooler cooling design. Memory modules are among the hottest system components, yet they often sit there naked, with nary a cooling fin or heat sink among them.
Corsair surrounds its memory chips with conductive aluminum that draws heat directly from the PCB. They're also topped with removable fins to maximize airflow and heat transfer. We found the Corsair H50 CPU Cooler selling for $US69 and the Dominator-GT 2,000-MHz DDR3 memory selling for $US249 for a set of three 2-GB modules.
NEXT: Storage
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